The black-tailed mosaic-tailed rat (''Melomys rufescens'') is a species of

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are na ...

in the family

Muridae The Muridae, or murids, are the largest family of rodents and of mammals, containing approximately 1,383 species, including many species of mice, rats, and gerbils found naturally throughout Eurasia, Africa, and Australia. The name Muridae come ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the island of

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

Names

It is known as alks in the

Kalam language Kalam is a Kalam language of Papua New Guinea. It is closely related to Kobon, and shares many of the features of that language. Kalam is spoken in Middle Ramu District of Madang Province and in Mount Hagen District of Western Highlands Provinc ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

.Pawley, Andrew and Ralph Bulmer. 2011. ''A Dictionary of Kalam with Ethnographic Notes''. Canberra. Pacific Linguistics.

References

**Baillie, J. 1996.
Melomys gracilis

2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Downloaded on 9 July 2007. ** Melomys Rodents of Papua New Guinea Rodents of Indonesia Mammals of Western New Guinea Least concern biota of Oceania Mammals described in 1877 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Edward Richard Alston Rodents of New Guinea {{Melomys-stub